20 Years of Fostering ……and counting

Twenty years fostering – for us the years have flown by - but thinking back to when we first started, there are aspects which have stayed constant and others where the change has been dramatic.

We were in our mid-fifties when we decided to look into becoming foster carers. Our youngest (of five) was fourteen – all our children were supportive – and we had the room to accommodate one or two foster children. We followed up an advertisement by a fostering agency in the local paper and had a chat with one of their Social Workers. The Agency had started in the Midlands and had expanded into North Wales and were looking to open a South Wales office. This sounded interesting, and along with three other couples we went through the suitability assessment and then the Skills to Foster training.

We felt a degree of excitement at being involved in an agency breaking new ground (at least geographically) and there was a shared bond between those of us undergoing the training. Over the years, the agency changed ownership and then, about ten years ago, became part of Pathway Care (now Calon Cymru).

For our first 12 years we fostered youngsters from ages 7 to 16 and one mother and baby placement, but for the last eight years we have only fostered babies. Looking back, we are not carers who can boast of having fostered hundreds of children. We always started each placement with the view to long term fostering. Of course, it did not always work out that way but the most successful of our older children placements were for at least a year and longer.

On the other hand, in the case of the babies, we are only part of their life for a short time – typically 13-15 months before being adopted – but in many ways it is a very important period of their development, as that is when they experience and learn attachment.

So, what has remained constant over the years and what has changed?

The most obvious changes, from our point of view, are the social and economic factors which have had an impact on children in care. When we started fostering, social media was in its infancy and mobile phones were not the fifth limb that they are today. There was at least a temporary escape from the pressures of the ‘outside world’, be it from birth family or generational contemporaries. The tightening of local authority economic conditions has had an obvious effect on the functioning of the social work departments, which despite the dedicated efforts of the local authority social workers, has had an effect on the support available to children in care.

Also, the worsening prospects of employment and finding a suitable place to live are concerns of youngsters facing the prospect of leaving care. In our experience, however, the combination of supportive relationships between the foster carer, the young person, and the local authority coupled with the more immediate support of the agency team have, at least to an extent, mitigated these.

What has remained constant or even improved?

The emphasis on continuous development of carers through training and carer support groups plus the experience of the Calon Cymru Social Workers and their regular involvement with carers has been an important part of our fostering experience.

However, the most important factor, which has remained unchanged in our 20 years of fostering, is the reason we decided to become foster carers – to make a positive difference in children’s lives.

Lynne and David, 

June 2025